Lookin' gooood!!!

[DiscoveredLC]

The 80 has some flex! Little fun up Hunter Lake

Not bad for a truck with OME 2.5" mediums, 7100's, and the rear sway bar still attached.

 

[DiscoveredLC]

.....

 

[spressomon]

Looks good Matt! So what do you think of the tires? Did you have the front ASB disconnected?

 

[chicago]

Bad ass rigs those are!!!! No doubt!
Beats the crap outta that rover, eh??

 

[thumper]

Damn if your truck isn't looking sweet as all getup. Great job Matt.



Jon

 

[primer7]

Bad ass rigs those are!!!! No doubt!
Beats the crap outta that rover, eh??

Yeah, but does it have the really cool $50 push in cup holder option available from Slee.

 

[DiscoveredLC]

Looks good Matt! So what do you think of the tires? Did you have the front ASB disconnected?

Tires have been great so far! Not the same ride as the AT's but well that expected.... haha and yes, the front was disconnected, but the rear wasnt.

Bad ass rigs those are!!!! No doubt!
Beats the crap outta that rover, eh??

yeah, Im not missing the Rover any thats for sure. haha!

Damn if your truck isn't looking sweet as all getup. Great job Matt.



Jon

Thanks Jon!

Yeah, but does it have the really cool $50 push in cup holder option available from Slee.

what is this contraption you speak of? I have never heard of such a thing!

 

[locrwln1]

Rig's looking good. By the way, unhooking the rear sway bar doesn't add a whole lot more flex. Most say that keeping it hooked up "balances" the suspension more.

Jack

 

[DiscoveredLC]

Rig's looking good. By the way, unhooking the rear sway bar doesn't add a whole lot more flex. Most say that keeping it hooked up "balances" the suspension more.

Jack

That's what I've heard from others on here. Makes the front do a little work too. I'm pretty happy considering how little I really have done to the suspension!

 

[Krusty Krab]

Nice rig-I had no idea an 80 would twist up like that. What trails are you planning with this beast?

 

[DiscoveredLC]

Nice rig-I had no idea an 80 would twist up like that. What trails are you planning with this beast?

I still have a bunch of upgrades I want to do to the suspension such as new, stronger links, taller springs (not much taller) and some better bump stop setups, but its working pretty well as is!

I'm going to start the rear bumper soon, and then fab some skid plates, but after that ill take it on some harder trails. Its a hunting/desert truck, so I don't want to go crazy with it. I still want it to be a reliable truck, so no bashing it...

I took the rover on trails like steves loop, deer valley, gold lake, parts of fordyce, etc... I did bud canyon in the rover and that was a bit sketchy on the body panels and the waterfall at the end sucked big time in a heavy rig. So moderate trails, but nothing crazy...

Ill save the hardcore stuff for my buggy build down the road

 

[rusty_tlc]

That's what I've heard from others on here. Makes the front do a little work too. I'm pretty happy considering how little I really have done to the suspension!

I never cease to be amazed at what the 80's can do in stock condition.

 

[DiscoveredLC]

So now I have a question on castor....

I'm running 2.5" mediums on the truck with 30mm Slee spacers up front. I had a minor death wobble with the BFG at's. Since then I have done a front end rebuild, and installed the MTR's. I still get a slight death wobble at the same speed (45-55mph) nothing crazy, just the wheel wiggle back and forth a bit. Its pretty annoying and I want to figure it out before it ruins the tires and causes a "loose" spot on the trunion bearings from wiggling back and forth so much (The old trunions felt loose in the straight wheel position)

Jack and I installed 2* castor bushings after I put the lift on. I have the alignment set at 1/16" toed in like manual says. I need to go have an alignment shop check the castor.

Could it be that I need more castor? 3* bushings?

 

[rusty_tlc]

Have the BFG's checked for round, I had a hell of a time with mine until I got them trued up at Sunshine. If they are new take them back and make the shop replace them if they are out of round, sadly BFG tires are turning into crap.

 

[spressomon]

Matt,
FWIW caster is for steering angles and castor is for oil . I just did a bunch of learning again...which means I just spent a bunch of money . This time it was on all things caster related.

New front upper control arms allow me to adjust for as much caster and camber as I want/need. Previously, with my ~2.0"-2.5" lifted front end (t-bars ), Mike at Sunshine* could only get me close to factory caster #'s. Toyota recommends 2.67 degrees of caster as a target for the 100-Series.

Ok...so with the OEM front UCA he got me to around 2 degrees caster with the raised front end. Steering was "twitchy or nervous" on the highway. Didn't like it but couldn't do anything about it.

Mod #1: When Carl (Carl Montoya JT Differentials) intro'd his custom front UCA for the 100's he had a little caster correction built into them. Mike was able to get me another .5-.75 degrees of caster; 2.69 degrees to be exact. The steering definitely felt better...less twitchy/nervous at speed but still not ideal/perfect IMO.

Mod #2 (current as of a few weeks ago): New custom one-off front UCA with complete adjustability. I had Mike adjust caster to 3.79 degrees (3.23 driver's) as I wanted to test the difference with more caster. Results: Night and day difference. Now the front end is rock steady at highways speeds. Steering effort has risen slightly (to be expected even with power steering) but not objectionable.

So based upon what I've learned: #1 caster is highly subjective to a given driver and the individual rig set-up. But stock non-lifted caster target is insufficient with lifted rigs...at least based upon my findings.

So I would suggest you try getting another degree or two of caster and give it a try!


*Mike at Sunshine Automotive (directly east and across Rock Blvd. from Baldinis) is flat out the best alignment guy, especially for anything lifted/modified suspension, I've ever met: Period. But he's just taken a position with the NHP and thus no longer available for us. Sucks (for us... for Mike). We do know someone at NHP...maybe he can help

But he is, apparently, going to work some if not all Saturdays at Sunshine to take care of us!

 

[locrwln1]

Just to reiterate what others have said. 2* bushings only help on OME springs (50mm lift) without spacers. Now you are in the territory where you need more. The stock specs for an 80 are 2-4*.

Pull it into the garage, measure for current ride height on the front, remove tires, set front axle/front end to whatever height it was, then pull out either your smart phone with a level on it or one of the magnetic dial degree thingys and set it on top of the two upper trunion bearing bolts. If you are 2* or less, you have too little caster.

So your options are:

3* bushings
Plates, which are designed to add back in about 4* of caster (originally designed for the OME "race" springs which usually lift an 80 around 4").

Or you design/build your own front control arms.

With Slee's 4" springs, I used the caster plates, which worked great, then I decided that I didn't like how the front axle was "pulled" backwards in the wheel well and the front springs had a bow in them. I lengthened and rotated a set of arms to re-center the axle. That threw the caster off (too much), so I modified the caster plates to dial in the front caster to about 3*.

For me, that was the best setting for my 80. It tracked straight, return to center was great and the steering wasn't too heavy from too much caster. My old 4runner, after SAS'n was set at almost 7*, it sucked; death wobble, hard to steer, turning radius was crap, etc. I shimmed it down to the 4* mark and life was much better.

Toyota front straight axles, due to their design, are very sensitive to caster. Too much and they are very "hard" to steer. Most were designed to run from between 1-4* of caster. Going much over that or too little and you will feel it.

Jack

 

[DiscoveredLC]

Thanks guys!

Dan, you said he (Mike) will be there on saturdays? I'll have to give them a call...

Jack, how did you modify your castor plates? If I had an exact way of measuring castor )searched but havent found anything except taking it to a shop) I could make my own from what Ive seen...

I wonder if I should get it checked out, then maybe throw in a set of 3* blue bushings depending on the results. Right now it shakes too much at 45-55 for my liking... Must figure something out!

 

[locrwln1]

Thanks guys!

Dan, you said he (Mike) will be there on saturdays? I'll have to give them a call...

Jack, how did you modify your castor plates? If I had an exact way of measuring castor )searched but havent found anything except taking it to a shop) I could make my own from what Ive seen...

I wonder if I should get it checked out, then maybe throw in a set of 3* blue bushings depending on the results. Right now it shakes too much at 45-55 for my liking... Must figure something out!

Not to take anything away from Mike, but it's not worth paying $200 for a one time alignment on an 80. The only adjustments are the toe and keeping the steering wheel straight. A shop can't change anything else on an 80 front alignment. Mike's specialty is IFS, way more adjustments available (caster, camber, thrust, toe, etc.).

Go to any Firestone Tire store $180 (without coupon, can be less with one) for a lifetime alignment. Then everytime you feel like it, have them put it on the rack for no charge. Now you will know exactly where you are anytime you make any adjustments in suspension height, replace front end parts, etc.

On the caster plates, I had to "remove" some material and weld them back together on the front side (side that adjusts the caster). Basically I reduced their total effective amount. Keep in mind, what I did was for my 80 with my nittos. YMMV with the GY MTR's.

Search for Landtank's caster plates, not sure if he still sells them, but you might be able to get an idea for building your own.

Jack

 

[primer7]

Interested in the fix for this, ever sine I installed the 2" OME springs my front end steers weird, no death wobble but moves around too much. I installed the OME bushings but that did not help. Was thinking of the Slee castor correction plates.

 

[RAYJON]

On both of mine I did the ausie mod and moved the front holes for the j arm down and reinforced bracket on the housing,, 3/4 of an inch gave me 2deg. you can make your own caster plates someone had a diagram.

but basicly what you are doing is to move the front mounting bolt for the j arm down tilting the axle.. the limiter is the rear steering contacting the J arm..

you really need to basline and figure out what your caster is,

both of mine were different after lifting the black one needed alot of correction the gray one not so much..